1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the method and the apparatus for detecting and determining volatile or volatilizable substances, simply and rapidly, in aqueous solutions or liquids, such as ammonia (including ammonium salts), volatile amines (including amine salts), halogens, nitrogen oxides and sulfur compounds. The volatile amines which can be determined according to the present invention include monomethyl amine, mono-ethyl amine, dimethyl amine, diethyl amine, trimethyl amine and triethyl amine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At present, the prevalent colorimetric methods for determining ammonia in blood in clinical tests, such as Nessler's or the Indophenol methods, have defects in that: (1) a large amount of sample (1 to several mls.) is required; (2) a calibration curve has to be drawn for each determination; (3) a longer period of analysis (2 to 3 hours) is required; (4) the procedure is troublesome; (5) temperature influences the results seriously; and (6) poisonous and deleterious reagents have to be used. In spite of the above mentioned defects, these methods have been used long years in practical use.